Evansville Electrician Files Federal Charges Against IBEW Local 16

A recent press release by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation announced that Brian Head, an Evansville-based electrician, has filed federal charges against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 16 union for "threatening him with a $1.29 million fine after he exercised his right to resign from the union." Head filed his charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Head’s charges to the NLRB, which is the agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, report that he resigned his IBEW union membership on March 27, 2025, in a notarized letter that IBEW officials acknowledged in an April 3 reply letter. However, according to the press release, the reply letter claimed that “[i]t is a six-month process before the resignation is finally effective.”

In the interim between the two letters, IBEW Local 16 pursued union discipline against Head for “purchas[ing] a non-union electrical contractor and…decid[ing] not to sign a Letter of Assent.” Notably, the union’s discipline took place after Head’s March 27 union resignation – meaning, as stated in the press release, "Head was legally beyond the union’s powers to impose any sort of internal punishment."

IBEW Local 16 officials sent Head correspondence on May 1 that he appear before a union tribunal. Head later received a letter from IBEW Local 16 bosses on June 9 finding him guilty of violating the union’s constitution and imposing a “$1.29 million dollar fine” as a penalty.